


Small victories

by sweetlikesugar



Series: i want to know you [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Family Bonding, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Krolia is trying to bond with keith, Mother-Son Relationship, Sparring, all kolivan does is paperwork and teaching life lessons, blade of marmora, starts directly after the first part, you dont need to read it to understand
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 05:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14687238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetlikesugar/pseuds/sweetlikesugar
Summary: She tries to connect with him but he’s too good at evading her. It frustrates her to no end but god himself only knows, whoever he is, that she won’t let that stop her.





	Small victories

**Author's Note:**

> it wasn't supposed to happen but it did so there you go. keith might be a bit ooc but i tried.

As soon as he stepped out of the ship Keith wanted to run. But Kolivan expected them and so did the debriefing. Krolia stepped out of the aircraft right behind him, he could hear her soft steps from behind. He walks to Kolivan’s office without a glance behind but he knows she’s following him.

 

The doors slide open with a hiss and Kolivan looks at both of them from over the report he’s reading.

 

“The mission?” he asks, impassive. Keith wants to scream but he knows better.

 

“Failed” he answers. “The weapon is destroyed”.

 

Kolivan stares at him for a long while and Keith is falling apart at the seams until Kolivan dismisses him.

 

He shoulder checks Krolia on his way out.

  
  
  
  


“The mission?” Kolivan asks again when it’s just him and Krolia. She slumps down on the chair in front if him and he’s reminded how young she is.

 

“The weapon is destroyed” she reaffirms. “Why did you send him to me?” she growls. Kolivan can see the family resemblance now with the fire blazing in her eyes. “Why is he here?”.

 

“He completed the trials and awoken the blade” he looks almost apologetic. “A skilled fighter. He doesn’t do well with obeying authority”.

 

If she didn’t know him well she’d miss the smirk he’s sporting. It would be funny in any other situation, but right now her lip curls up in a snarl. “Why is he here, Kolivan? Why is my boy fighting a war?”.

 

“Ask him” is all he offers. He picks up another report and she knows the conversation is over. She kicks the chair over and storms out.

  
  


Keith has been sitting in the shower for good twenty minutes now. The unlimited supply of scalding water slides over his hair and spine in hot gusts and he knows he’s unhealthily flushed. 

 

This was supposed to be a simple mission. Get in, destroy the weapon, extract the spy, get out. Suddenly Keith is face to face with a mother that was nothing more but an urban tale for his entire life.

 

He walks out of the shower and stares himself down in the fogged mirror. He has her eyes, the slope of his nose and the tilt of his jaw. Her hair is more purple than his, dark aubergine that looks black in the dark. Their eyes are...similar. He looks away. Why bother.

 

He wishes for someone to talk to, but who? He left Voltron. Would they even want to talk to him? He doubts so. 

 

He lays down on his bed and stares at the ceiling.

  
  


He would never admit it to anyone, but in the morning he kind of forgets about the “I met my mother” situation until he walks directly into her. He stumbles back and closes his eyes anticipating the fall but someone catches his arm. 

 

Krolia looks terrible. He doesn’t know what Galran equivalent of eyebags are but she has them and she looks frazzled and unfocused. She holds his arm longer than it’s necessary until he wrenches it away. He bypasses her and heads straight to the training deck.

  
  
  


She doesn’t know what to do with him. It hurts more than she thought it would. She’s been ecstatic to see him before but now the elation is gone and it’s been replaced with dread. Her boy fighting in the war she never wanted him to see. Turns out she left him on earth for nothing. Her eyes burn at the thought of him, alone with only her knife like a terrible consolation prize.

  
  


She’s in Kolivan’s office before she knows it. 

 

“I don’t know what to do” she forces out through clenched teeth as if the helplessness is physically painful. It is. 

 

Kolivan stares at her. He feels for her in a way. “Sit down”.

 

She does.

 

“I don’t know how to be a mother” she heaves out. It’s unlike her to admit failure. This boy has changed everything. “I don’t know how to be what he needs me to be”.

 

“Do you know what he needs, or do you just assume so?”. She looks at him surprised. “How can you be what he needs if you don’t know what it is?”. He goes back to his paperwork.

 

She takes it for a wisdom it is.

  
  


 

She tries to connect with him but he’s too good at evading her. It frustrates her to no end but god himself only knows, whoever he is, that she won’t let that stop her.

 

“Keith”. She’s standing in his way, her tall posture blocking the door completely. She’s leaning on the wall right next to the opening panel. He’s not getting out.

 

“Krolia” he acknowledges and watches her eye twitch. He knows he’s being diffucult.

 

“You’ve been avoiding me” she says. Facts. “And I know you have a good reason for it but enough is enough. I want to be there for you know. I know it doesn’t excuse me leaving you, but I will drop dead before I let you push me away”.

 

He stares at her silently and she doesn’t like the glimmer in his eye. He lunges forward to the panel and she resists the urge to roll her eyes.

 

She looks out for the dagger at his belt and flukes a swipe at his legs to make him jump and just hooks her arm around his torso and bodily throws him at the other side of the room. Without a second of doubt he runs at her again, crouched low with his arms relaxed at his sides and she smirks knowingly. 

 

Kolivan has been training her kit well.

 

He throws the knife and she reflects it with her own, but it distracts her for long enough to not see the kick he’s aiming at her stomach. She grabs his ankle but the kick still connects and she doubles over breathlessly. She’s still holding his leg so she moves her foot slightly to kick the leg he’s standing on from under him. He goes down like a tree and she can’t hold back a snort. 

 

She bends down to pick up their knives and gives his back to Keith, hilt first.

 

“If you wanted to spar you could’ve just ask” she jokes and she’s pretty sure it will fall flat.

 

“Alright. Let’s go”. He heads towards the door and she’s so stunned she lets him. “You’re coming?” he stares at her expectantly, eyebrows raised. The corner of his lip twitches upwards but he forces it down.

 

They head towards the training deck silently but he’s walking next to her.

  
  


She counts it as a victory. 


End file.
